


What He's Lost

by rangerkier



Category: BomBARDed (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Possession, minor depictions of violence and injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 21:53:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19118425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerkier/pseuds/rangerkier
Summary: Chaos Sauce is in a tangled situation and Randy isn't sure how to get them out of it





	What He's Lost

“RANDY!”

Yashee’s voice barely reached him over the sound of his own body slamming into a tree trunk. He bent painfully around it before he lost all the momentum that sent him flying through the air. When he fell to the ground, he was unable to catch himself, instead slowly pushing himself up to his hands and knees. He froze with a gasp, clutching his side as pain flared up. 

_"You just gonna take that lying down, buddy?"_ Eddie’s voice sounded in his mind. Randy ignored it and looked out at the scene in front of him again. Yashee was dancing around the area, avoiding the obstacles as they erupted from the ground beneath her, avoiding each slithering grip like the one that had thrown him out of the fight. _"C’mon, man, this is a pretty messy situation. I could help get you out of it."_

 _Shut up,_ Randy thought back. There had to be a clean way out of this. If he and Yashee could just get away, they could try to figure out what was happening without anyone being chucked across clearings, maybe call Splash and see if he had any ideas. But first they had to escape the vines and roots bursting from the ground.

_"You know I’m pretty close to your ribs, right? Feels like a few of them are broken. Don’t you think that deserves some retribution?"_

Randy felt Eddie’s creeping touch, in his mind and across his entire body, trying to pull control from him. And he could feel the intent behind the maneuver. 

“No!” he hissed aloud as he fought against the hold. Eddie wasn’t going to use him for that, Eddie wasn’t going to do that. No one was going to die here. He could feel the wizard’s disappointment as he managed to force him back. He tried to focus again on trying to get them out of this situation. 

A sudden yelp drew his eyes back to the mayhem in front of him. Where was Yashee? He didn’t see her anywhere, but he certainly would have heard her crash to the ground if she’d been thrown like he had. There were vines, some as thick as trees, still twisting around each other. One that was moving more than the rest caught his attention. 

He jumped to his feet, ignoring the pain in his ribs and leaving his heart on the ground. Yashee was being held high in the air, the vine wrapping around her throat. No no no. This couldn’t happen, he could fix this. He couldn’t lose both of them. 

He didn’t even know if Raz’ul was lost to him. He tried to tell himself he wasn’t, but it was getting harder to believe. But if and when Raz’ul regained his senses, control, whatever he had lost, Randy had to make sure it wasn’t to the realization that he had killed Yashee. 

How did he fix this? Fire? Burn the vine holding her? But it was one of the thicker ones, he didn’t know if he could burn through it fast enough. Not to mention if he did, Yashee would probably be dropped directly into the flames. What else? Cut it? All he had were daggers, that would never be enough.

Randy raised his hands, running them through his hair and tugging on it as though that would somehow help him work out the answer faster. Because he had to figure this out and figure it out fast; Yashee didn’t have much time. There had to be something, he just had to find it. 

He could see Raz’ul, standing in the middle of all this, watching Yashee struggle. Randy couldn’t see his expression, his back was to him. Not to mention, the last time he had been able to see his friend’s face, the plants that were growing all over him were starting to cover it. Randy looked at Raz’ul’s back and had another idea. He pulled one of his daggers from its sheath and started moving forward. 

This was bad, this was stupid and risky and scary and bad. What if this didn’t work? What if he wasn’t fast enough? What if Raz’ul noticed him? But he kept getting closer and Raz’ul didn’t react. Randy was nearly close enough and shifted his grip on the dagger, reaching toward Raz’ul’s back. 

He grabbed the strap holding Usumptin in place and pulled the dagger through it. He dropped the blade, he didn’t have time to sheath it, Raz’ul definitely noticed that, and took the ax in both his hands. Dodging around Raz’ul, Randy kept rushing forward, preparing to swing Usumptin. 

Randy wasn’t strong, he was horrified that he still wouldn’t be able to cut through, even with the new weapon. But he had to try because if this didn’t work, he didn’t know what else to do. He swung the ax while he was still moving, hoping his momentum would add to the swing. The blade cut through the vine, getting pulled to a stop before slicing clean through. 

But it was enough, The vine couldn’t support itself and started falling. Randy looked up and saw the hold around Yashee’s neck shudder and loosen before dropping her altogether. Yashee crashed to the ground in front of him; she pushed herself to her knees and clutched at her throat, gasping for air. Randy rested Usumptin on the ground, keeping one hand on it to hold it steady, as he placed the other on Yashee’s back. 

“Are you okay?” it seemed like such a stupid question, but he didn’t know what else to say. 

Yashee looked up, only briefly making eye contact with him before her gaze flicked behind him. Her eyes widened and she grabbed Randy, pulling him with her as she dove to the side. 

Randy groaned and clutched at his ribs, pressing his forehead into the grass. He was sure whatever would have happened had Yashee not pulled him aside would have been worse, but god his ribs hurt. He rolled to his side so he could see and found Yashee was perched over him protectively. She was looking over her shoulder, at Raz’ul, at what almost hit them. 

He was holding one arm out. From the ground all around him, more roots were shooting out at a sharp angle. These looked more solid than the wriggling vines, yet were thinner, sharper. Randy shuddered to think of all of those hitting him and Yashee. 

Raz’ul lowered his arm, the plants retracted back into the ground, and turned toward them. It was the first look Randy had gotten at his face, and, despite the fact he knew Raz’ul had piercings, he was concerned to see that small vines seemed to have pushed their way through them. The other worrying thing was that there seemed to bark starting to cover the surface of his face now, but he still looked down at them with one cold eye. His eyes were dark brown, Randy knew that. But they’d always been warm, stable and safe. Like the hot chocolate he made for them in the winter, like the sheltering branches of a tree on a long journey. But now they were just dark, almost black; there was no emotion in them. He took a few steps forward and started to lift his hand again.

Randy saw Yashee’s face as she reacted. A flash of panic, a tinge of regret. She swung one of her arms up, slamming a mallet into Raz’ul’s face, sending him stumbling back with a worrying cracking sound. Raz’ul leaned forward, holding his face in his hands. It was the least dignified Randy had seen him look since this started. 

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Raz’ul lowered his hands and looked up. Now Randy could see what had caused the crack; the bark that had overtaken nearly half his face had been shattered, both his eyes were visible again. And they were wide and bright. 

“Raz’ul?” Randy pushed himself upright, looking hopefully at their friend. 

He took several steps backward, almost stumbling in his haste. The movement drew Randy’s attention away from just his eyes and he saw the plants across Raz’ul’s body were growing, vines and stems twisting around his limbs, one circled his head like a crown. There were thorns pressing into Raz’ul’s skin and Randy cringed.

Raz’ul looked between him and Yashee, his eyes full of fear and tears. “Run,” he whispered.

“Raz’ul, wait,” Yashee stood up and took a step forward. 

“Yashee,” Randy grabbed her arm, he couldn’t physically hold her back, but he could try to get her to stop. He knew a thing or two about not being in control. If he’d had a chance to tell people to run before some of the things Eddie made him do, he would have. As he watched, the light left Raz’ul’s eyes again. “Yashee,” he spoke more urgently this time, trying to pull her away. 

“Yeah,” she retreated a step, apparently seeing the same thing he did. “Let’s go.” She turned back to Randy and started shepherding him away, apparently wanting to keep him further from the danger. But Randy wanted them both out of danger, so he started running, making sure Yashee was close behind him. As they fled through the trees, he could once again hear the sounds of sudden plant growth and torn earth behind them. But they slowly left that behind, until it was quiet.


End file.
